Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Best 4 day pass from a combat zone ever

"Day 1" Camel meat market- doesn't get any fresher...

My children already recognize the trick in my title- yes, I just went on my first ever 4 day pass from a combat zone.

So another Top 10 is in order.

The 4 day pass top 10
1. Water pressure in the showers
2. Electricity- all the time- without the droning of generators
3. No sounds of incoming indirect fire or small arms fire (SAF)- now that I'm back in Baghdad, the SAF is crackling again.
4. An extended "Day Zero"- the day we get there doesn't count- but because we got there kind of late, we were given a "full" day Zero the next day- meaning we got an extra day- woo-hoo!
Day One continues- Iranian style restaurant.

5. City tour- camels, markets, meals, etc.

Day 3- water sports- waiting for the sea-doo


6. Water sports tour- Dhow "cruise", sea-doo, and some hot-dog shaped float that I kept getting thrown off of into the Persian Gulf, and another Arabian-style lunch.

Camels near the sand dunes on inland sea tour


7. Inland sea tour- crazy drive through traffic in Doha, then crazy drive over the dunes, past the natural gas refineries, to an inland sea- volleyball, beach, sand, another Arabian-style lunch. Hmmm. Hummus and lamb kabobs.

At the Copa! Copa-cabana!


8. Wear civvies all you want.
9. No weapons. No motorola radio. E-mail checks at my discretion.
10. Big army chow halls.
11. LDS Church with actual people instead of CDs or DVDs and me as the conductor, speaker, officiator, usher, etc.

Got to ride back to Iraq in a bigger bird than the trip down- the nylon mesh and steel tubes were downright cozy!

It was a very good time. I can't believe I get to do it again in a few weeks. Woo-hoo!

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